Dear we are teachers,
I’m in my first year teaching high school biology. Since the school year started, my students have either been completely disinterested or have been goofing around in class. I feel like I can’t do anything and that they really hate me. How do I do a factory reset? Please tell me it won’t take more than a few weeks.
—I’ve got the New Year’s blues
Mr. IGTNYB
If that makes you feel better, I don’t think it’s you. It’s January. And the teens are coming off a two-week mainline of TikTok, sugar, and little sleep. Of course, it would be less interesting by comparison!
Either way, now is the perfect time to reset. Here are some of my favorite articles for building strong routines, boosting morale, and making routines stick in your secondary classroom.
If you think your students need some involvement, here are five ways to boost morale when the classroom atmosphere is low. If you’ve never tried them before, attendance questions and attendance brackets are a great way to connect with your students and get them talking while doing the tasks you should be doing at the beginning of class anyway. Games and in-class brain teasers are a great way to combat student apathy. Here are some of my favorites from middle school and high school classrooms. The Unfair Game, Wikiracing, this middle school math game, and oddly enough, this Heads-or-Tails game. They get so hooked! Here are some easy solutions for difficult classes that you can implement overnight. But for long-term restructuring, consider these 50 tips for high school classroom management. If 50 seems too overwhelming, you can narrow it down to the top 6.
You have this! You are in your first year. Be kind to yourself. In time, you’ll learn tricks to prepare before the back-to-school slump begins.
Dear we are teachers,
At our high school, students take a new ELA class each semester. Therefore, we will be holding our second Parent Night in January. During the evening course, I felt that many parents expressed their criticism and dislike of literature in words. One student’s father warned me that this class was not a priority for his engineering-minded child (thank you!). Another parent asked if my subject matter was even relevant anymore with the advent of AI (cool!). I don’t know if they got together in a group text before Parent Night and agreed to collectively humiliate me or what, but I feel like this year is off to a bad start. How can I shake it off? How would you have answered?
—Unrelated in Indiana
Dear III
One of my favorite expressions from my father-in-law when people say or do something stupid is, “They don’t know.” (Pro tip: Mumbling and shaking your head works best.)
For some reason, people like to tell their teachers that they feel that their chosen subject is not interesting, unimportant or irrelevant. It’s so common that I even wrote an article about it.
I’ve encountered this problem several times in my 11 years of teaching, but never so many times in one night. I would like to add two things to the materials at the beginning of the semester.
Make sure your introduction letter or syllabus details why reading and writing will still be important in 2024. In your presentations and materials for parents, include a section called “How important is reading and writing really?” You can also say, “Yes, actually, my parents asked me this question before.” But it’s still a good question. Let’s talk about it. ”
Basically, you want to beat them with their jokes. If you think about it, you’re just doing the same thing for parents as you do for students with each new unit. Why do we need to know this? Why is it important?
Dear we are teachers,
I teach middle school. Since schools have reopened, we have started asking specific questions to determine if students are suitable. “Is it massive?”
If you were teaching about Charybdis in The Odyssey, it would be something like this: What do you think the girth is? ” If the weather forecast says there’s going to be a major snowstorm, you’ll ask, “Is it major?” How big? ”When I say I have some questions about my homework, it goes something like this: Do you think it’s bigger than Gwen’s? ”
I tried to do it but they kept bringing it up. We know this is a reference to an online meme, and we know that calling attention to it will only make things worse. However, I am worried that one day an administrator will come and observe me and see this “massive” problem occurring in my classroom. What should I do?
–I’m extremely irritated.
Dear MA
This is more than just an annoyance. That’s harassment. This is unwanted sexual conduct in the workplace or school, and because it covers employees and students at schools receiving federal funding, it is also grounds for Title IX charges.
Here’s what you need to do: Have a clear conversation with each class. “Big” conversations are inappropriate for schools because of their implications, and it doesn’t matter whether they agree or not. Next, let’s discuss what Title IX is. Once you understand that, explain that continuing the joke after it has been made clear that it is inappropriate is grounds for a Title IX complaint. Additionally, it can lead to disciplinary action on your permanent record. (Your administrator should do all of this in advance to ensure you’re communicating accurate information.)
Make sure students understand that the rest of the joke will be emailed verbatim to both the parent/guardian and the administrator. They may be brave enough to say it to you, but they tell me they’re not brave enough to say it to an adult.
Have a burning question? Email us at askweareTeachers@weareTeachers.com.
Dear we are teachers,
It’s my first year as a teacher and school starts on Monday. After thinking thoroughly about last semester’s problems over the break, I felt I needed to follow the instructions and do a major classroom reset for my 5th grade students. Are there any specific steps, practices, routines, etc. you would recommend to avoid doing the same thing 8 million times this semester?
—Let’s get down to business.
